Skier Miraculously Survives Crevasse Fall

Occurred on April 26, 2022 / La Grave, La Meije, France

Info from Licensor: "We are a group of mountain dwellers in Grenoble called 'Les Powtos' (mountain biking, hiking, climbing, skiing, etc.) The incident happened in La Grave/Meije on April 26, 2022. We were hesitant to share the video because it is impressive and we weren't sure how people would react. With hindsight, we said that this could serve as prevention. On D-Day, we did a lot of descents and in the euphoria of a descent a friend (who is filming) got caught in a crevasse at the last moment and is trying to avoid it. The crevasse is visible at the last moment so despite our experience, he was able to avoid going straight into it but lost his balance and finally fell into it. Fortunately, he falls straight into it and slides while being stopped before the big boulder. I would say he had an easy 15m fall. It was the longest 15/20 minutes of our lives as we weren't sure if he had fallen deep head first or otherwise. Lots of emotions go through our heads but we have to react quickly. Fortunately, we were all equipped with a probe/shovel/arva/harness/ice screw and ice axes.

Our friend was able to start going out on his own by putting his skis on his back and putting on his crampons. He started to go up on his own, and we finally joined him to send him a rope to secure the exit and created a rope to bring him up. Our friend really has a certain calm and composure. We don't know how the rest of us would have reacted. He was not injured at all and we even made a few runs again after suffering a little pain following this event."